The NETGEAR Orbi 970 Series Scoffs at Your Bandwidth Woes

If you're looking for the fastest and unparalleled WiFi performance, NETGEAR's Orbi 970 Series is it

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Published: 4 February 2025

Let’s get one thing straight: the WiFi can suck. Maybe it’s the configuration of your flat or your outdated router. Maybe your neighbour figured out your WiFi password ("password123" really?) and is leaching off your router. Perhaps its ghosts... bandwidth-stealing spooks. Either way, the Orbi 970 Series from NETGEAR can help.

The NETGEAR Orbi 970 Series isn’t just another router. It’s a statement. A middle finger, if you will, to buffering icons and laggy Zoom calls. WiFi 7 is the latest wireless standard and the Orbi 970 Series has speeds up to 27 Gbps and lower latency. The secret sauce to this is the device's quad-band design so that that your devices are always connected to the fastest frequency. Think of it like there's a tiny air traffic controller who is rerouting your attached devices to the best possible connection.

For that kind of speed, the Orbi 970 Series reflects its sleek, minimalist design. Presented as 12" obsidian towers, they have in-built antennas that provide exceptional 360° WiFi coverage. It has a 4K QAM and multi-link operation (MLO)—the "4K QAM" is a sort of modulation technique used in WiFi 7 that packs more data into each signal ensuring higher data transmission rates, while the MLO allos for the simultaneously sending and receiving of data across multiple frequency bands and channels, leading to increased throughput and better network stability in congested environments. Oh, and there's this LED ring at the base gives you a quick status update without being obnoxiously bright.

Setting up the Orbi 970 Series is simple. Just download the Orbi app, follow the prompts, and in minutes, you’re basking in multi-gig internet glory. We didn't have a signal drop during our test and we tend to hook up a lot of devices to the router.

The one downside to this is the price. Priced from SGD2,799, it comes in two- or three-pack. And there's also option for an ongoing subscription fees for NETGEAR Armor security and Smart Parental Controls. But we suppose that's the price to pay for something this fast and reliable. It almost feels like the future has arrived... and we welcome that because the present as it is... well, sucks.